A diverting tale about an emotional wheelchair.
A youngster uses a wheelchair that has a mind of its own in David’s picture book.
Grace is a little girl with pale skin and brown hair who wears a heart-shaped pendant necklace. After she works hard on her schoolwork to be named student of the month, her wheelchair starts misbehaving. First, in class, the wheelchair starts speaking out of turn, asking Grace’s classmates and friends questions, and the teacher notices: “Grace, remember to raise your hand to talk. It’s not polite to disrupt the class.” The wheelchair also makes her late to the library, invades the teachers’ lounge, and throws paper airplanes in class. Later, it apologizes and says, “Everyone notices you and talks to you, but nobody notices me or interacts with me. That hurts my feelings.” So, Grace gets her friends involved in helping to decorate the wheelchair with streamers and paint. Solomiia’s full-page, full-color cartoon illustrations don’t always match the story in a meaningful way; for example, the first page shows an unnamed girl in front of a world map, while the text introduces Grace’s excitement about possibly becoming student of the month. The text itself is minimal, consisting of occasional brief descriptions amid dialogue. The story is entertaining throughout, however, and the relationship between Grace and her wheelchair is especially dynamic.
A diverting tale about an emotional wheelchair.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781957696263
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Semper Grata Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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